Posts Tagged ‘Brothers’

As I mention in the “My Alternate Weekend” post, for now I’m required to bring the children to my parents when I have them for the Jewish weekly holiday. When we go to my parents, we usually stay in my youngest brother’s room. Because he’s twelve and because at one point his room was the storage location for unneeded clothing, his room is a mess.
(When we go over, I spend at least 30 minutes cleaning it up, but it really requires a complete overhaul and about 4-6 hours of focused cleaning.)
My son has a tendency to remove his clothing at odd intervals. Since, all the children are frantic and seemingly in perpetual motion, it can be difficult to keep track of where he took off what and, therefore, where it is.
Early on I feared that there could be negative consequences to returning the children in dirty clothes and to losing the clothes they arrived in. To prevent either of those possibilities, I implemented a complete wardrobe change the moment they walked into my parent’s home. They would arrive in the clothes their mother dressed them in. Immediately, upon entering my parent’s home, they would be stripped and re-dressed in clothing I got for them. I would store all the outfits they arrived with in a shopping bag. Anything dirty, I would wash.
When it was time for them to return to their mother, I’d remove their weekend clothing and reacquaint their bodies with the clothing with which they arrived. This, at least, was the theory. In actuality, something always got lost.
It got even more complicated when they started bringing clothes from their mother to wear over the weekly holiday. The amount of clothing to keep track of not only doubled, but the interval of them being “exposed” to loss increased exponentially.
Each weekend that I’d have them I’d worry about losing clothing. When I’d return them, something would always be missing. My soon to be ex-wife would complain about the missing item. I’d call my siblings, ask them to search for the item and put it aside for me. Most of the time, the item was found and returned. Sometimes, the item could not be retrieved.

I would spend so much time worrying about the clothing situation that it affected my ability to enjoy the time with my children.
The last time I had the children, I was successful at returning every article of clothing. However, I hadn’t even gotten home when she called to complain that top to a medicine crusher was missing.

This weekend, she requested that I mind them an extra 2.5 hours, because she wouldn’t be home until later. I agreed. About 3 hours before I was supposed to return them to their mother, I saw that my son’s pants were missing. I asked my siblings to do a quick search through my parent’s home, but it yielded no results.

When I returned the children, she was understandably upset. I tried to explain the situation, but she insisted that when she has him at her place, he’s a total angel. She threatened to write up a list of items that have gone missing and press for me to pay restitution for each of them.

I walked away without responding. I understand her frustration with clothing being lost. I share it. I know if i had them at my apartment, no clothing would go missing. However, even without excuses, shouldn’t I get some credit for taking care of them for longer than initially planned? Oh well, people generally don’t change.

I went to see “Dear John” Tuesday, February 9, 2010.
I was expecting it to be similar to “Brothers“.

(Quick note. I did not read the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. I’m only reviewing this film as is. I’m not judging this movie against the book from which it was adapted.)

The movie appears on the surface to be a classic tale of military guy meets a girl, they fall in love, military guy goes abroad, girl cheats on his with him with a close friend/relative. However, I found the film to be a lot more complex than that.

A note to women who go to movies and make “aww” and “how cute” noises during the airing. Shut up! Thank you.
I didn’t come to listen to your patronizing sounds and I don’t need your commentary. When I go to a movie, I try to stay silent. I don’t talk about the plot and I don’t gasp or coo. I try not to laugh. I just sit, watch, and try to soak it all in.

There were a number of “cute” moments in this film that made the (predominantly) female audience lose their minds. There is one time in particular, when many of the females around me started saying “how cute” about an elderly gentleman, that I felt my anger rising.

The ending of the film is interesting. The audience around me smacked their hands and laps in frustration. A lady next to me asked loudly, “Is that it? Is there going to be a sequel?” The ending did seem a bit rushed, but it didn’t shock me. I was expecting it to end the way it did, but perhaps with a longer explanation.

Overall, I would recommend this film to people who like dramas. I give is a 6 out of 10.

I went to see “Brothers” Tuesday, December 8, 2009.
I went to the theater on 62nd street because they seem to have fewer clients – emptier theaters and fewer sell-outs. When I got there, the line was literally out the door. Fortunately I was able to procure a ticket. Sadly, the theater was packed… filled to capacity. The audience was one of those that to comment about everything that happened. If someone was mildly funny, the audience exploded in laughter. If a character dissed another, the audience ejaculated “Damn” and “Ohh!”. During one particularly climactic moment, I missed 10 seconds of dialogue due to audience participation. (One member in the audience felt the need to explain the irony of one situation to the audience. Fortunately the almost entire audience shushed her, and she shut up.)

Brothers is about two brothers. One, Sam, is “perfect”, a patriot, cool as ice, happily married with two daughters (sequel “Sisters”?) and about to be re-deployed to Afghanistan. The other brother, Tommy, is a just released from prison criminal, guilty of a violent crime against a women, bad tempered, reckless, irresponsible and a “quitter”.
When Sam dies overseas, Tommy seems to grow up and in his attempt to comfort Sam’s “widow”, they start to fall for each. However, Sam didn’t really die. When he gets back home and realizes there are sparks flying between his spouse and his brother, things get very awkward.

The film explores the horrors of war, the fragility of relationships and the lack of support for soldiers that are stateside after being deployed in the theater of war.

I thought the film was interesting and thought-provoking. The emotions expressed in the film seemed real and I could relate to the characters.

Brothers has an R rating and really shouldn’t be viewed by children. I would generally recommend it to adults. There is very little action or gore in this film, though there are a few intense moments.

I give this film a 7 out of 10, but my experience loses one due to the audience.